


Words on our skin

by pricklybuns



Series: Distance [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Famous Harry, Fluff, M/M, Non Famous/Famous, side Ziam, slightly less Famous Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-28 06:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13266012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pricklybuns/pseuds/pricklybuns
Summary: In a world where you write something on your skin with pen/markers or whatever, it will shows up on your soulmate's skin as well.Louis thinks his soulmate should really get a fucking cell phone. Also, what about Harry Styles wanting him to be the opening act for his tour?!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: [[x](https://78.media.tumblr.com/46e8687559bde5e30257c293bef3ad4d/tumblr_o5lbt6PtuU1v0irf4o1_400.jpg)]

"Louis! Louis! Look!" - Liam came screaming to Louis' house. Luckily for Liam, Louis is as active as a 10 years old as he was. If not, he would probably be dead right then and not jumping on Louis' bed, trying to wake him up. 

"Liam.. what do you want.." - Louis groaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes with his little hands as Liam practically shoved his arm into Louis' face while pointing at it. "Look! Look! Isn't it cool?!" 

On Liam's arm appeared a drawing of spider man, stickman, looked kind of wonky but spider man nonetheless. Suddenly Louis was not sleepy anymore. "How did you get that??" - he asked, tried to rub it off Liam but the spiderman stickman stayed the same.

"I don't know! I was walking to you house then it appeared! I tried rubbing it off because I freaked out but but it wouldn't go away! But it's so cool now that I look at it!" if Liam could rip his own arm off to hug it, he probably would.

"When will I get one of those?" Louis whines, pouting as he looks down at his baby-fat arm. "Liam? Did you come over?" - he heard his mum asked from downstairs, which Liam answered 'Yes!' before Louis could react.

"Maybe we could ask you mum about it? Maybe she knows something and you can get yours soon too!" Liam suggested, still bouncing like an excited puppy. "Maybe! I want one too! Let's go!" Louis beamed before both pulled each other down to the kitchen.

"Mum! Mum!" Louis said as Liam said "Mrs Jay! Mrs Jay!". She continued with her cooking as she let out a short "Hmm?" to answer the jumping boys. Thinking back, Louis felt sorry for his mum since, for a while, she was basically raising Liam as well and Louis alone was already bad enough.

"Look! Look!" both said excitedly, showing off Liam's arm to Jay. Jay chuckled as she saw why they were so excited. "Aww, that's cute boys, did you draw that Liam?" she asked, putting the pancakes on the counter. Liam shook his head, "No, it just appeared on my skin on the way here! I couldn't rub it off but it's cool so it's okay!" - Liam grinned. "I want something like that! When will I get it?!" Louis whined.

She blinked a bit to process what they just said before gently taking Liam's arm, attempt to rub the stickman off. Not use. A smile spreaded on her face as Liam's head received a gentle pat from her.

"That must be something your soulmate drew their arm love" She explained, turning off the cooker. "Soulmate" Liam tilted his head, confused. "What's a soulmate mum?" Louis joined in.

Jay put a finger on his chin, thinking. "it's a bit complicated but.. in general it's a true connection between two people(souls) that transcends all other relationships. In our world, whenever your soulmate write or draw on their skin, it will appears on yours as well." - she smiled as Liam's face somehow lit up and Louis' jaw dropped.

"Didn't expect your soul to connect with your mate so soon though but really no one had tested this, maybe yours is just very interested in sketching on their skin" - she shrugs, chuckling.

"So i'll get one when my soulmate draws something?" , "Yup" she ruffles Louis' hair. He looks at his arm, "Common soulmate! Draw me something cool too!" - he whines, Jay just laughed.

"Hey Mum! When did you first get stuff like that on your skin?" Louis asked, settling himself on his seat at the dining table, Liam joined, taking his usual seat next to Louis. "Hmm.." she put two dishes of pancakes in front of them - "I think it was when I'm 13. I suddenly saw a bunch of notes being scribbled onto the palm of my hand" she chuckled - "The teacher thought I was cheating and I had to rubbed off his palm till it was red for her to believe I wasn't and my mate was" she shook her head fondly at the memory.

Liam and Louis laughed, "I wonder if I'll get something like that" Louis grinned. "But if it was you, teacher would probably not believe you didn't cheat" Louis poked Liam's side, initiating a tickle fight. "I would never! Don't rat me out twat!" 

"Language" Jay chuckles, putting syrup on their pancakes, only then did they stopped fighting and started digging in. "You both be good, I need to head to work now. Tell pa to eat when he walks up alright?". "Yes mum!" , "Bye Mrs. Jay!"

_--------------_

"Louis look! My soul mate drew something else! God they are so cool!" Liam beamed, pointing at his arm to Louis, biting his bottom lip both in excitement and as an attempt to stop himself from smiling so much. The latter didn't work.

"Yeah Liam, I get it, yours is artistic" Louis rolled his eyes fondly. Although he didn't mind Liam constantly bringing this soulmate drawings up, Louis couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. He looked down at his clean and slightly tanned 17 years old arm.

He was jealous alright? He admit it. Not out loud but he admit he was jealous of Liam.

He understood that at one point or another, he would see a drawing or a scribble or some random words on his arm or body or anything but nope and it had been 7 years since Liam found out about his and Louis is started to feel a bit salty.

Liam get to see this magical scribbles on his skin all the time, a new one almost everyday while Louis get to see nothing? He knew he was being childish but he just couldn't exactly help it.

"Lou?" Oh shit, Liam caught him. "Hey, I know you're a bit sad that you haven't seen anything on your skin but lighten up man, it will appear one day! Eventually!" Liam gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah but what if they aren't the type to write on skin Liam? What will I do then?" he sighed. "Well anything but moping around, I know that much" he smiled, nudging Louis' side.

"Heh, I guess." Louis chuckled before jumping off his bed. "Ready for some footie? I still want a rematch after what happened last time!"

"You tripping over a rock and I scored a goal doesn't mean I cheated. I won fair and square!" Liam hopped off too. "Nuh uh! How would I know if you didn't put the rock there so I would trip on it?" Louis showed his tongue as Liam scoffed. "Only way to convince me and do a rematch Li, you can't get outta this one this easy~"

"Tosser" Liam pouted, "Twat" Louis chuckles. "Alright _fine_ , only because you have been nagging me nonstop about it" Liam shook his head fondly. "That's the spirit! Call up the lads, we're in it to win it today! No stupid rocks!"

Both called up their group of friends before racing each other to the football field, or soccer for the Americans. Did he win that round? Yes and No. Liam called it a draw, Louis demanded another rematch.

At one point, Louis did stop and wonder if his soulmate is in the similar situation as he is, waiting desperately for the other person to write something, to receive a sign on the other side. But for some reason, Louis always ends up dismissing it.

_--------------_

Louis was either a total idiot or a total genius, probably both, when he finally thought of a way to find his soulmate without actually actively 'find' them. All his insecurities from when he was a preteen disappeared, replaced with a strange amount of confidence.

He was 19 then and didn't want to continue waiting. He took a sharpie and scribble a small " **Hi** " on the back of his index finger. He closed the cap, let out a confident huff of breath before grabbing his soccer ball.

One thing led to another, Louis somehow became the captain of his school's soccer team back in highschool. Even though he wasn't in highschool anymore, he still hung out with them, occasionally play some charity match because Louis couldn't help himself and because, well, footie is fun.

Liam and Louis were planning to probably moved out of their family house and move in together in a bigger city, London maybe, to get better chances in following their dreams.

Louis wanted to act but fall in love with writing music instead. Although his songs aren't too much of a hit yet but he made a pretty good living out of it, he sung some of them and some he sold to people who were interested.

Liam wanted to wanted to dance and eventually fell in love with making music. Both of them collaborate a couple of times with Liam taking care of the beat and Louis wrote the songs. Liam still dance, of course, the dance videos he posted of himself get enough interest for him to carry on.

"Eyyy, here comes the Tommo" - his team cheered as he came. "Hey lads" he chuckled, throwing the ball to the ground. "We got another charity match for the kids this weekend, who's in?" he grinned, his team cheered. Honestly he was blessed with these guys. They are like family.

They practiced for a while, Liam eventually joined them as well. "Pick up the pace boys! C'mon, let me see those legs run! Go Go Go!" - he clapped loudly as he ran after the ball on the sideline. Since he wasn't in school anymore, he wasn't allowed to play so he let the team get use to it by staying out most of the time.

He definitely didn't avoid looking at his hand because he was nervous, absolutely not. nuh uh, who is suggesting these things?

He pushed the fringe away from his eyes, he really should have trimmed down the bowl haircut he was rocking, too bad for him his 19 years old self thought that was cool.

Liam wasn't doing much better, hair wise, although his fringe is a lot less bowl-like and a lot shorter than Louis', they still look like a mop on his head. Not that Louis could say anything about it, again he was just as bad.

At times like this, Louis had thought about what his soulmate looks like, do they look like a nerdy twink like he is or something worse? Louis couldn't handle anything worse than himself if he's being completely honest.

Eventually, practice ended after a while, full of sweaty boys and breathless laughters. "Good job boys, this weekend is going to be fun!" the team cheered as he headed home with Liam.

"Thanks for joining us today Li" Louis gave Liam's back a couple of pat. "Don't sweat it man, it was fun, thanks for having me." he smiled. "Stop being formal to me twat. C'mon, mum been dying to have you around for dinner"

The first he did was slipping into the bathroom, Liam took the second floor bathroom. Nothing feels better than letting the cool water run through your skin after a long day of working out, or well, running around. 

As he was taking some shampoo, he accidentally peeked at his finger and saw something else there. He swore he almost had a heart attack. "Liam!!!" he screamed from the bathroom, slipping in his boxer, towel still on his head after he finished his bath.

Liam stumbling down from the stairs, basically freaking out because of Louis' scream. Thank god no one is home right now. They went home a bit early so even his mom is not yet home. If not, everyone would probably freaked out.

"What?! What happened?!" Liam breathlessly asked. "They replied!" . "What?" . "My soulmate! I wrote a message on my finger to see if they would reply and they did!" . "Dude! That's sick!"

Louis let Liam put on some actual clothes as he slipped into some himself. Both sat on his sofa as Louis turned to the back of his finger again. A small, nicely written " **Hi! :D** " written beside his own.

"Dude! You are a genius! I'm totally trying this out with mine! Just telling you that beforehand" Liam beamed, he never looked so excited for years. "Have always been Payno, keep up your pace" Louis chuckles as he scribbles down " **This is your soulmate speaking ;)** " in the palm of his hand.

That night, another reply came in, he just squealed quietly into his pillow though since Liam already went home after dinner. " **Haha, Hi. I would ask your name but I kind of want to find you myself :D** " God this person and their smiley faces. Since the reply just came, hopefully they are still looking at their hand.

Louis quickly scribbled a fast " **Just first name? Gonna know who I'm looking for at least** ". The reply came just as fast " **Haha. Nope. But you can call me H!** " God damn it. " **So thick headed you are but I'll take what I can have. I'm L in that case !** " Great, now his palm is full of words.

" **Quick question, what gender are you?** " Louis scribbled hurriedly. A couple of years ago he probably wouldn't care but ever since puberty hits, he realized he wasn't as into vaginas as he thought he was.

He didn't know when exactly did he realize that, maybe somewhere around the time he watched an episode from X-Factor and almost had a heart attack from how cute one of the contestant was.

A young lad from Cheshire, Harry Styles with his stupid cute smile, green eyes, perfect curly mop of hair and a deep voice of an angel. This kid was everything and he was all Louis could think of ever since he saw him.

He felt guilty about it since his soulmate was waiting for him somewhere and he was drooling over a 16 years old boy on the telly.

The next reply was a male symbol and Louis couldn't even feel more relief in his life.

" **Thank god. Was afraid you're gonna be a girl for a second.** ". 

" **Haha, are you a lad yourself L?"**

" **Yup** "

" **I never thought about writing like this, this is a really good idea! You're a genius L! :D** " 

Louis couldn't help it but smiled and felt a bit proud of himself for coming up with the idea. " **Why thank you, it's my honor** "

" **So where are you from?** " H asked.

" **Doncaster. Gonna move to London with my mate soon** "

" **Oh that's cool! I'm originally from Cheshire! Not currently there though ): Could have met you** "

Louis couldn't help but chuckle. " **Well if we're soulmate, we're going to meet eventually love, don't sweat it :)** "

" **Supposed you're right! Gonna sleep now though, currently busy ;( Talk to you soon?** "

" **Sure! You got a phone though H? Would be more convenient for talking** "

" **No :(** "

" **Where are you from? The stone age? Jesus mate** "

" **I'm really sorry >'< No socials either, just not really interested into those**"

" **Do you even want to find me or not H? Jeesh** "

" **I do! I just don't have those things.. I promise I'll find you though! Just you wait!** "

Louis used all of his will power to bite the smile off his face but failed eventually. " **Alright alright, I believe you love. Now go get your sleep, talk to you soon :)** " 

" **Talk to you soon L! I'll find you!** "

He never met H yet he already felt butterflies in his stomach from scribbling these lines in his hands. Hopefully when they met, he would still feel so. For now though, he need to tell Liam.

_--------------_

Years flew by, time goes faster when you're having a good time was what Louis heard.

He's currently living in London with, you guessed it, Liam. They also have an unexpected housemate - Niall Horan, a carefree Irish lad that just gives no fucks about life.

Niall used to be their neighbour but he crashes over so many times for food that eventually he just practically lives in their flat. At least he's fun to be around.

On other news, Louis and Liam are basically living in a dream with both producing music and going into small cafe to perform. It isn't much but that's exactly what they want.

On the other hand though, Liam had already met his soulmate, which is understandable since he managed to get his mate's phone number right after they started 'talking' to each other then arranged to meet shortly after.

With Louis though, he had no luck whatsoever in that department. Why? Because H, stupid, adorable, annoying, precious H failed to buy a god damn phone.

He did bought one once but every time they tried calling, something happened and now that phone is broke. Life has been great with Louis. 

" **L, are still angry I broke the phone? I swear I didn't mean it :( would love to hear your voice too.. I'm sorry L..** "

How can he _not_ forgive? Plus Louis doesn't know how H looks like but he adores this guy's handwriting. He could straight get a tattoo on his arm that said 'Go fuck yourself' and it would still look artistic.

"Hey Lou, gonna go out for a bit." Just talking about artistic. "Going on a date again Payno?" Niall poked his side while eating some food he probably found in their fridge, Liam just laughs.

"Yeah you and Zee, when are you gonna introduce us you tosser?" Louis tried to kick Liam's leg but leg too short. Liam doesn't seem to realize that was what Louis tried to do.

"I will once you introduce H." He hates it when Liam looks smug and he's looking smug right now. "Wipe that stupid smile off of your face will ya? I will once _I_ get to meet him!"

"Wait, Tommo, you have not met him yet? Jeeshus man, you're 23 already and you've been on writing term since what? 19?" Niall sat up, basically just stared at Louis. 

"Stop that, you look like you're judging me to death" Louis whines, scribbling a small " **My friends are nagging me about you now** ". "Because I am" Niall said simply. Niall can be very nice at times, this was not one of those times.

"I heard you planned dates to meet him ages ago man, what happened to them?" Liam sighed. "I told you before, he ended up getting dragged around by his manager and other times I just got new calls out of the blue."

H is a singer, Louis knows as much. If Louis recalls it right, around when H was 17, he gave Louis' palm nearly 10 exclamation marks after telling him he got signed with a record label and Louis couldn't be more proud.

H also goes on tour quite often so Louis H must be quite successful. Louis doesn't want to think H is a huge deal, mostly because he doesn't want to get his hopes up and or feels inferior but he has been telling people H is a mega star as a joke.

" **Haha, I'm not mega but I'm happy that you talked about me :D I talked about you a lot too!** " was what H said about it.

" **Only good things I hope? ;)** "

" **The best things! I talked about how you're funny and lovely and have the best handwriting!** "

" **Best my arse :) Yours is the best ×××** "

" **I heard Xs are kisses?** "

" **Sometimes I wonder if you are an 80 years old man. Yes those are kisses for you love** "

" **Haha I swear I really am 3 years younger than you :) xxx** "

That specific conversation had faded a bit due to the time it has been on his arm but it's still there. Back then every time a conversation ended he would attempt to scrub it off but H did say he likes that he could see Louis' handwriting on his arm so both decided to just keep it until it naturally fades.

"Must be difficult having your soulmate being so busy. What if you never meet him if this goes on?" Louis threw a pillow nearby at Liam for saying that. "Sod off, we're soulmates, we'll eventually run into each other.." 

Despite arguing, Louis had to admit he feels insecure about it too. Both of them are busy when the other us free and the other way around. Because H doesn't have a personal phone and dislikes social media and there are thousands of Hs people in the world, it had became unfairly difficult for Louis to find him.

Liam let out a soft sigh as he gives Louis' shoulder some light pats. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, let's focus on something else. How is the whole search going?"

Louis has been advertising his songs around for a while, trying to get some labels to work with him or find artists who are interested so he could get his name out there. 

It has been going a lot smoother than how Louis expected, a lot of people had shown interest, though one stood out from the rest. "Been going great really and there is one deal I'm considering" Niall sits up, clearly interested.

Niall is the closest to being Louis' manager. To both his and Liam's surprise Niall had helped him a lot with the advertisements and sounded very professional every time they go to meetings.

He helped manage the offers, the papers and all the business stuff. It used to be Liam's work until he went on his own dancing career path. Traitor. He's happy for him though. Plus they still sing together sometimes in their little shows so it's not that bad.

"So you know how I'm trying to find people to help get my name around?" The other two nodded. "Well, prepare yourselves this is a big one, I have been in contact with a couple of people from Harry Styles' team and they want me to come perform as the opener for this upcoming tour!" He squealed at the last part. Niall launches himself at Louis, spouting many "Congratulations!!!!" while Liam was still struck in awe.

"I said I worked with you and they said they can bring you and your dance crew along too if it all goes well with Harry! They are preparing for our meeting tomorrow!"

"Oh my god holy shit ohmygodohmygodohmygod"

"Liam!! Breath! Liam! Niall! Help me!"

"Eh. He'll be fine"

"He's hyperventilating! NIALL"

"Alright! Alright!"

_--------------_

"I'm going to puke" - Liam and Louis mumbled to themselves, holding onto their own head, Niall is just chilling. "Hey, don't worry too much, if his team thinks your stuff is cool enough, I don't think he would hate it".

"Niall, you don't understand, he's literally our idol since forever! Oh god what if he turns out to be an asshole? What if he hates our stuff?! Oh god, I need a moment" Liam tried to calm himself down as he calls Zee.

It is the day they are going to face Harry Styles and talk about the whole opening deal and Louis has been both mortified and excited. Now that he was sitting in the waiting room though, he is more terrified than excited though. He looks down at the inner of his arm, full of words from a previous conversation with H.

" **Going to meet the star now** "

Louis chuckles a bit, he never told H he was meeting Harry, mostly because he deemed the name a bit irrelevant, what important is that Louis is freaking out about working with his idol.

" **Good luck with it L! I'm sure they'll love your stuff!** "

" **You have never heard my stuff, how would you know he would like it? ;P** "

" **Because you talk about your music a lot! Judging from how passionate you are, I'm sure your stuff is sick! You inspired me to continue my music passion too so I'm happy that you are getting your chance xx** "

" **Aw, you are making me blush :) xx Can't wait to meet you one day, wanna hear your stuff too!** "

" **I hope you don't find me first, I wanna show you my stuff myself!** "

" **Can't wait :) Im so nervous** "

" **I'll be there in spirit!! Good luck L! Love you! xxx** "

" **I'll tell you how it went after it's done! xxx** "

He takes a deep breath. He can do this, he can do this, Harry might gonna make him piss himself but he can do this. He has H by his side rooting for him, Niall to help him convince the team while Liam and him can take Harry's interest. Yes, he can do this, he is Louis Tomlinson and Louis Tomlinson doesn't chicken out.

"Louis Tomlinson?" - a lady pops her head in the room. "Present! I mean er.. yes? I'm Louis" he clears his throat. His call probably caught Liam's attention as he could see Liam lowers his phone after Louis' sudden loud answer.

"Mr Styles is ready to meet you and your mate, please come to the room at the end of the hallway. Mr Horan, please follow me so we could discuss legal issues with the team." - she said softly, giving them a warm smile before leading Niall away.

"Ready?" Liam asked, standing with his back straight as he let out a huff of breath, putting on his determined face. "No- I-" Louis coughed into his fist, straightening his back "I'm ready! Time to show Harry what we got!"

They headed down the hallway, Louis swears he could hear his own heart jumping outside of his chest. This is it, this is their moment, a rare once in a lifetime and Louis is not going to fuck it up, not this time.

"Hello, you must be Louis and Liam, I'm Harry" - a tall, green eyed, curly headed Harry Styles stands up from his seat as Liam opened the door. The three of them met each other half way before shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you, thank you so much for giving us this chance! We really appreciate it" Liam greeted warmly as Louis is trying to not scream in excitement.

"Oh don't worry about it. I love your stuff. You two deserves a lot more attention than you currently have really so I'm glad I could help you with it" he grins.

Louis feels his cheeks getting a tiny bit warmer as he stood in front of this gorgeous creature that people claimed to be human. Harry is literally too perfect to be only human so Louis refuses to agree that he is in fact human. Louis, however, agrees that Harry could literally murder a man and still looks good.

Wait, what did he say about Louis' song? "I really like the way Louis sings and the melody of the songs, I also love the dancing crew, all of the moves are just so well done. Honestly I should be the one excited that you both are joining me on tour." - Harry continues. God the way his lips move is addicting.

"You are honestly too nice. We are so thrilled to be a part of your tour, I hope your audience will enjoy our performance" Liam said, stuttered a bit at some parts but he managed to get his point across. " **Think I should dump you for my idol, he has cute lips ;P** " - Louis jokingly wrote in his palm as Liam was getting flustered by Harry's compliments.

"Honestly though" - Louis finally speaks - "We are just very excited and it feels pretty cool that you like our stuff too. I just hope we'd get along well?" Louis smiles, attempted to look professional but his excitement probably showed on his stupid grin.

"I hope so too. My tour is starting just a couple of days later. Sorry for the short notice, we have been on the search for a while but never found anyone that fits. Just tell me what equipments and other arrangements you need and I'll inform the team to give them to you"

"Alright er.. do you have a phone or something? I'm sure I'll forget something if I just list them right now so phone might makes it easier to communicate"

"Oh.. Er.. I don't actually have a phone, you might have to contact my team." seeing Louis and Liam giving him weird looks, Harry put on a smile while shifting a bit, clearly feeling awkward "No, I'm serious, I don't. I only got a phone recently but it broke while I was getting mobbed so back to being phoneless now"

"Honestly I don't know how you survive. Where are you from? The stone age?" Louis joked. It wasn't even that funny or funny at all judging from the look Liam gave him but it made Harry laugh so it doesn't matter.

"If I'm being totally honest, don't have personal social accounts either" he shrugs. "Most of the ones that has my name are run by my management or my team, not me"

"No fooking way" not surprised that Harry's account wasn't run by him, any account that tweets and posts only about promo is clearly run not by a single human but surprised that he doesn't have a seperate private account.

His surprised face must have looked hilarious since that made Harry laughs even more. God his voice sounds nice. Louis vaguely wonders if his soulmate could be this perfect? He wishes not, he wouldn't deserve an angel as a soulmate anyway.

After a while of just talking with each other, Liam and Louis headed outside, the adrenaline still flows through their body. "I can't believe we just talked to Harry Styles for 4 minutes" Louis mumbled. "I can't believe we're going to be on tour with Harry Styles with for 4 months" Liam mumbled. "I can't believe you wankers still are wandering around here. C'mon now! Couple of days before the tour started! Time to get a little wasted! Celebrating this good day!" Niall shouted, putting his arms around both of their necks before leading the way.

" **Noo. I have cute lips too** " H proceeds to scribbles a badly drawn lips next to his message. " **You're too cute, stop it xxx** " Honestly, best day ever.

_--------------_

Couple of days later, the tour began. Louis and Liam was introduced to Harry's fans through a small instagram picture, captioned simply " _Be nice to them, they are the opening act for the leg tour!_ " Louis did not get slightly paranoid that people kept pointing out how his left arms and palm had so many words on them, not at all. Nope. Okay maybe a bit.

H has been extremely supportive and excited, mostly for Louis then for his own upcoming tour. Louis almost shat himself. Maybe he might even get to meet H during this time travelling with Harry. Surely the guy is nice enough for him to go around the city a bit during breaks right?

" **Which city are you heading to H? Might even get to meet you!** "

" **It's a bit of a long list, don't wanna fill up your arm D:** "

" **Alright alright, any particular location you want to see me at? Now that I could actually travel the world, it would be cool to exploit it ;)** "

H doesn't reply immediately which is reasonable, Louis likes a man who can plan things out, makes both of their lives a bit less messy. "Please fasten your seatbelt as we are planning on take off" - the lady said into the mic. Louis nudges a sleepy Liam awake before both do what the lady said.

When they got permission to unbuckled, Louis was too lazy to actually do that so he just kept it there. H finally replied: " **I'll be in Switzerland on the 11th then Franc** " the message faded and ended up being unfinished. 

Louis contained a huge urge to laugh since this is the 4th time H tried to reply to help with an out-of-ink pen. Honestly Louis found it adorable that H would find out his pen ran out of ink, finished the sentence in a terribly rushed fashion then apologized repeatedly. Louis should feel bad for teasing him but he's too cute.

"Erm, Louis?" - Harry _fucking_ Styles, sitting on the seat in front of Louis called, turning his head back towards him with his hair pushed back, contained using a headscarf that should look stupid on him but it doesn't. Fuck this perfect man. "Do you have, like, a spare pen I can borrow?"

If someone asked him that couple of years ago, he would say no and said that's a weird ass question to ask on a plane but that was the old Louis. The current Louis has about 3 pens in his pocket, just in case they run out, he also have some extras in his bag because he is crazy.

"Yep" he smiled, pulling a pen from his pocket out to Harry with his right arm, left arm faced down. He's a bit insecure about the fact that his arm is full of words plus those words are private sometimes, best that no one see them. "You don't have to return it, I have plenty."

Harry takes the pen with a wide grin, happy like a kid on Christmas. Does he likes pen that much? Harry looks down somewhere and started writing then turn back to meet Louis' eyes, body still turn towards him. "Thanks for it, I'll give you back another one once we get back, or when I get a chance to buy another one"

"No No, honestly, I have a bunch, just take it. Two in my pocket, one in my hand and a pack in my bag. You honestly don't have to give it back." Harry chuckled at that. "Thank you for it. Why do you bring so many pens anyway?" - he asked, occasionally looks down, presumably where he had written with Louis' pen.

"For communication, deadass of a soulmate doesn't exactly have a phone so we use skin" Louis pat his left arm. "Ohh! So you do that too? That's cool! You go back to that then, I'll leave you to it." What does he mean 'too'? Who else does this other than him and H since literally everyone has a phone. Harry already turned back around at that point so Louis didn't ask further.

" **-France on the 13th. My pen ran out of ink again ); Lucky I got saved by a coworker :)** "

" **Owed them a big thanks then :) Tell them I said thanks, can't talk to you without their pen xx** "

Harry turned back to face him again. "Thank for the pen again, my mate said thanks too" he smiled then turned back around. Okay, what the fuck was that?

" **Think I might faint, talked to the star for 3 times now, can't help but feeling awestruck every time** "

" **Haha. I'm gonna be so jealous of him getting to spend months with you ):** "

" **I'm gonna be jealous of your whole crew who travel with you xx** "

" **Haha. Talking about that though, I wanna take you out in Paris, wonder if you could be there?** "

Louis opens his phone to check the dates. He knows they are dropping off in France but not the exact date. "13th, France, Paris. Hehe" he mumbled and chuckled to himself. Not noticing Liam eyeroll at his goofy grin before nuzzling back into his sleep, earphones in. He did notice later on though, which he just scoffed at since he soon realized Liam was listening to Zee talking him to sleep on the phone. Liam is in no place to talk.

" **Always know you are more of a romantic ;) The schedule said I could be there. Location?** "

" **Yayy :D I'll tell you when it comes, just keep your schedule open! Can't wait to see you xxx** "

" **Can't wait to see you too love xxx** "

Louis smiled at the words scribbled on his arm, he really couldn't help it though, H is too precious. He let out a short huff of breath before leaning on his chair, letting his arms fall on his sides, catching Harry kissing his own arm. Okay, that was weird. Funny enough though, he could imagine that's what something H would do. Oh great, now that's endearing. Fuck.

_--------------_

Louis knows Harry is a big deal, hell, he is probably the biggest deal Louis had known since forever. Though he could never truly grasp how _huge_ this guy really is until today when he pokes his head out to see a sea of people coming into the area to see Harry and waited patiently for the lights to go out.

"Nervous?" a similar low voice, Harry's, asked. Louis tugs at the sleeves of his jacket, nodding lightly. H had told him everything will be fine and he shouldn't worry too much but just because he said that doesn't mean Louis could just magically feel better, not the mention the weird comments about the scribbling words on his arms.

He knows he shouldn't care, he's almost too aware of that but he simply just can't _not_ care. These words are personal, they have been a part of him for so long, they reminded him of who he was and helped him through his worst times and seeing it getting mocked by people who don't know him makes him.. He doesn't know what it makes him. A bit angry, a bit sad, a bit proud that they noticed it.

He grips his sleeves tighter, pulling it down a bit more. Feeling a bit stupid in the process. God he is letting bad words from others affect him, something he swore to not let happen ever since the bullying incident back in middle school yet here he is, 23, still affected.

"We can do this! I'm nervous as all hell but don't sweat it too much guys, we can do this!" - he heard Liam said loudly to his dance crew with Niall's "Yeah!!" among other voices. "They'll love you, don't worry too much" - harry spoke again, as low and warm and comforting as before. "Thanks" - Louis mumbles back, pulling up his sleeves a bit to look at the multiple " **Goodluck!** " and " **Love you! xxx** " from H.

The nerves are still there but he could say he feels a bit better after looking at them and hearing Harry. He turned back to look at the taller man who is wearing oddly revealing clothes. He could almost see his entire chest from here, _god_ he is attractive. "Thanks, I'll do my best" - Louis smiles - "I'll make sure that you'd be blown away by us pop star". A smirk appeared on Harry's lips, revealing his dimple, "Can't wait."

The light goes out, the crowd screamed on top of their lungs. Time to shine.

Music plays, Liam's dance crew storms out from both sides. Louis followed them out, running, jumping out. "Switzerland! Welcome to the Harry Styles' show!" He screamed in the mic, the crowd cheers.

Knowing most are here for Harry and probably doesn't care much about him, he proceeded to sing without introducing the name of the songs. Moving to the beat of the song, singing with all he has while Liam's crew dances their hearts out on the lower part of the stage. He had been told that Harry's first song here is going to be something poppy so he sang some of his songs that has some poppy feel to it to get the mood going.

Further into his performance, he gained more confidence the longer it goes and before he realized it, his act was finished, receiving a deafening amount of applause. "Thank you for listening! Here comes the man of tonight: Harry Styles!" - he screamed breathlessly into the mic before bowing and ran into the backstage with Liam's crew.

"You all smashed it!! I'm so proud of you!!!" - Niall screamed the moment they stepped in the backstage, pulling everyone into a group hug full of screams, laughters and giggles. 

"I can't believe I sang to that many people in a Harry Styles concert!!" - Louis squealed. "I can't believe we danced to your song in front of that many people _in a Harry Styles concert_!!!" - Liam exclaimed. "I can't believe we're out of that smelly apartment of yours!" - Niall joined.

Louis slaps Niall's head, still hugging everyone else. "You ruined the moment wanker!" They all chuckled before letting other go, the dancing crew went somewhere, Niall excuses himself to go chomp on some free food while Liam excuses himself to sneakily go off with someone. Like Liam could sneak any secrets from Louis. Louis stayed behind, listening and bopping his head to Harry's performance.

When the guy started writing music, Louis had to admit his music wasn't exactly what Louis digs. Not that he didn't like it, it was just not his cup of tea. Funny enough, he fell in love with them later on but before that, even if he didn't enjoy the music, he always catch himself watching Harry's live performances on the internet when he gets a chance. He has to admit, this guy is talented and a proper entertainer. His energy shown clearly on stage through every weird movements he called dance, every notes he hits. His presence on stage alone is enough to take one's breath away.

It's funny, he always feels a bit of a tug towards Harry, like some kind of weird magnet pulling him closer to Harry. Or maybe that's just the fanboy part of him showing. Either way, he loves Harry's performances and he is shamelessly dancing his socks off to it backstage with some other crew members after inviting them to join.

He sure someone recorded them but he couldn't care less. " **Wish you were here xx** " he writes sloppily on the back of his thumb as he dances.

When Harry came in, everyone cheered and congratulated him, Louis included, shaking his hand and getting short hugs. " _Wish you were here xx_ ". Huh, that's weird, Harry's soulmate must have communicate with him through writing like Louis' has too. Or maybe that was just a smudge on his thumb that Louis imagined looked like words from the adrenaline high.

" **Want to be there with you xx** " came H's reply long after he returned from the show. He smiled at the message, planting a soft kiss on it before dozing off. 

_--------------_

The next two days are just full of them going around, exploring Basel like proper explorationist. Louis had never gone anywhere other than London so literally everything everyone had seen before is something extremely new to him.

" **Sick time in Basel, want to spend it with you xx** " he writes to H as they, or well Liam and Louis, try some Switz food. Harry spends time with them too. Sometimes he would take Louis somewhere no one knew before, which is always pleasant.

The weird pull he feels towards Harry gets even stronger the more time they spend with each other. Sometimes he would joking write to H " **Might leave you for my idol, he takes me places ;P** " who replies with " **Nooo, I can take you places too! I can bring you around the world if you want D:** " Though they both know Louis is teasing at this point.

One thing he had been noticing about Harry though is that he would always wearing long sleeves clothes for almost no reason, even when it's hot out. Louis has a reason, he needs to keep the writings on his arm a secret, Harry on the other hand (hah, hand, arm. Anyway) doesn't. Not that Louis knows of.

Time flies when you have fun. Before he realized it, he is lying in the hotel bed. Two days already passed. He let out a soft sigh, still smiling as he closed his eyes. Early flight tomorrow, can't afford to lose sleep.

Tomorrow.

Louis' eyes shot open, a stupid grin spreads on his face. Paris, France, H. He'll get to meet his soulmate tomorrow. He knows their plans always ended up flopping but he's excited for this promise. Something tells him he's going to be able to meet H this time, this time for sure.

He takes out his marker and hover it on his skin for a bit before carefully scribbling down " **Always in my heart** " on the back of his hand before letting himself drift off to dreamland.

The next day, they all run to the airport, freaking out that they might have been late but thank god they weren't. Louis settled on his seat next to Liam's and Harry's in front of them again, next to no one.

Louis looks down at the back of his hand again, what he wrote still there, a bit faded, but still there, though H had not said anything as a reply to that specific message. He pouts a bit before scribbling down a small " **Saw the back of your hand yet?** "

" **I did :D Too perfect, don't even need adds on. Wanna get it tattooed xx** "

Louis' pout fades, replaced with another stupid grin. He is so gone for this guy before they even met and he's too ashamed to admit it. He bit his lower lip to stop himself from grinning as he leans back on his seat again only to catch Harry gently caressing the back of his own hand with a stupid grin on his face too. 

These coincidences are getting weirder and weirder and Louis is not appreciating it.

_--------------_

" **Going to meet you today! Excited! :D** "

" **I am too sunshine. Better not bail on me this time :P** "

" **You know I don't mean it ):** "

" **Just teasing you love xx So, location?** "

Takes a bit for H to write back the location of where they'll meet and the time. Looks like they have at least 30 minutes together before Harry's show started and judging from what he had read, the location doesn't seem too far from the show either. Perfect.

" **Can't wait to meet you :D !! xxxx** "

" **Me neither love :) xxxx See you tonight xx** "

" **Love you xx** "

Louis' smile instantly grows as he draws a heart outside of what H said. A suddenly muffled giggles could be heard from the seat in front of him, Harry's. The guy is caressing his arm/hand again. Should Louis finds it weird because no one caress their own hands with a stupid smile on their face or should Louis finds it endearing since it looks like what his soulmate wrote, judging from how the ink didn't even smudge.

"Excited to see him?" - Liam asked quietly after a far too long of a while since Louis saw him awake. "Yeah.. but also, a bit scared." He said honestly, everyone else is asleep anyway.

"Since you're meeting yours soon, I wanna introduce mine to you" Louis' head perks up slightly, suddenly now wide awake. "So when you met yours, you gotta introduce me" Louis rolls his eyes fondly 

"Less talkin', more showin' Payno. The Tommo doesn't have all day!" He claps like what those rich people do to call their servants which just made Liam rolled his eyes.

It got the message across nonetheless though as Liam takes out his phone and shows him the gallery. "Holy shit" Louis mumbled under his breath. It's fucking Zayn Malik.

He punched Liam's arm playfully, still jaw dropping. "Your soulmate is Zayn Malik and you thought it's okay to _not_ tell your best mate?" Liam laughs at his overreaction "Do you have a dead wish Payno?" 

"It's not that big of a deal.. plus he's not as bad as everyone said he is, he's really charming, a proper family man" Liam fidgeting with his thumbs, a bit flustered. Okay, that's adorable.

"Can't believe your soulmate is one of world's most famous model in the world" Louis nudges Liam's side, who chuckles innocently before going in a rambling fest about Zayn, his eyes light up as he does. Well at least he's happy.

_--------------_

He walks into the place H wanted them to meet. It's a fancy looking restaurant, not too posh but posh enough to make you feel out of place. He looks back at his exposed arm, figured if he wanted to find H he should look for a man full of writings on his arm and if he wants H to find him, he need to expose his arm soon.

" **I'll wait in there for you xx** " was the latest message H left. He walks around for a bit, carefully eyeing to see if anyone has what similar to his arm. No luck so far. " **Have you ditched me again? );** " he scribbled down before settling on a seat near the corner and let his eyes wander.

He sees a man, sitting near the window seat, scribbling down something on his arm. Louis' eyes widen. Could that he H? He looks down at where the man had written. " **No :( I'm still here patiently waiting xx** " appears. This could be it.

He silently heads over the area the man is sitting, taking a deep breath. The guy, who looks somewhat really familiar, is wearing sunglasses and a hat indoors, either he is a total weirdo or he's trying to hide his appearance for some reason. Oh god is he a criminal? He doesn't sound like a criminal when they talk.

Alright, here goes nothing. Releasing the air, since he failed to realize he hasn't, he walks towards the man's table. He put his hand on the table, purposely positioned it so his inner arm is visible for the man.

"Hey H."

He seems to have caught the guy's attention as the corner of his lips turn upwards when he saw Louis' arm and starts to trail his eyes upwards to meet Louis' face while his hand taking off the glasses, both their smiles drop.

"Louis?"

"Harry?"

"You're L?"

"You're H?"

Louis stares at the man, Harry, in front of him. His makeup is already put on for the show, his hair partly hidden underneath his hat, his lips are colored in enough to make it pop but not enough for others to realized instantly there is lipstick.

Harry stares right back at Louis. He's wearing a hoodie with its hood covering the top of his head, his fringe covers almost all of his forehead, his left sleeve is rolled upwards, makeup had been put on as well but soft enough to look natural, he did put on a bit of eyeshadow though.

Staring at each other like this makes Louis feels incredibly small. He settles on the seat in front of Harry, suddenly a bit shy. If your soulmate is the guy you have been idolizing for years who _just so happen_ to be the definition of perfection you would be shy too alright?

"Now I feel less guilty having a crush on you" Harry said out of the blue, breaking the silence with a soft chuckle. "A crush? On me? Shouldn't that be my line?" Louis replied, finally looking up to meet Harry with a smile on his face. The little smile on Harry's face is way too much.

"It doesn't have to be anyone's line, I'm just being honest" - Harry chuckles again, shyly let his hand slides towards Louis' on the table. He looks up from his hand to Louis,strange how Louis could practically hear him asking _"Is it okay?"_ without him asking. He nods, Harry slowly wraps his palm on Louis' clenched fist. Before both knows it, their hands are held tightly.

"I saw you around since" he shrugs "Highschool. Went to Donny once, more like drove over by once really, and saw you playing in the field. Snatched my attention right away" he chuckles to himself. Louis makes a "Bleh" sound and pulls a face. "Common, you don't look _that_ bad in highschool." Louis disagrees, he complained about it too much before though so he doesn't argue further.

"But ever since that day I kept thinking about you and feel so bad since my soulmate is around somewhere and here I am having a crush on another kid" Louis chuckles at Harry's hand waving a bit while talking.

"Yeah? Well I knew about you since X Factor. You were my sex awakening. Wait no. I mean. Like. You make me realized I like dicks? Wait ugh that sounds bad. I swear I'm smoother than this on the daily" Harry laughs, bringing Louis' hand up to give it a peck. "I know"

"How did you even find my stuff anyway? It's not like it's that popular" Louis asked as the waitress brought them their drinks. He waited for Harry to give her a signature before sipping his drink. "You must have missed the whole part about you being pretty big from within the industry then."

He almost choked on his own drink. "What?" Harry laughs again, giving him some tissues to wipe the leaked water with. "Lou" okay, sudden nickname is dropped, he is _fine_ "You don't understand how well-known you are within the industry. Everyone knows you as the Donny freelancer or The Tommo guy. When I heard you are advertising around as Louis, I almost had a heart-attack because it was so hard to snatch your songs and everything every time you put them on sale as your screen name because everyone knows you"

"I- What? That's impossible. I mean things I put out get sold pretty quickly, that I get but it's not like anyone is waiting to buy them.." he wishes how flustered he is right now doesn't show on his face. Judging from the fond look Harry is giving him thought, it probably is showing quite clearly.

"The public doesn't know about you yet, that I agree, but everyone within this industry does. Niall did a great job putting your name out, promoting your songs to other people he met. He even shoved a draft of your stuff in my face during one of the parties we attended" Harry chuckled lightly while Louis is just trying to process everything.

Wait, what about Niall and Harry partying? "You hang out with him? Are we talking about the same Niall? The Niall I know crashes at mine and Liam's place to constantly steal food" Harry laughed again. God his laugh is adorable. He doesn't look like the type to die from laughter, at all, but here he is, laughing his butt off.

"Niall is a special lad. Met him during X-Factor but went further than him I guess? We kept in contact for years, he is a great lad, he helped me get my name out and find a record label for me to work with. Honestly he's great." Louis nods. So that's what Niall does, good to know. Louis had once thought Niall was a legit hobo that claims he has a house and was their neighbour so Liam would let him in.

Harry suddenly stiffen. "Wait.. If you have known me since X-Factor then you know my stuff?" Louis makes a face, "Of course I know your stuff. Everyone probably does." Harry's face falls, like a kicked puppy, he pouts "Noo.. I wanted to show you them myself", "Well you saw my stuff before I get to show you as well. I think we're even"

"This is unfair..! I was gonna show you and be like 'surprise! I wrote this about you!' But now you listened to them already." He pouts, slouching on the table like a sad puppy. He already has Liam as a human puppy, he doesn't need more.

Louis makes an exaggerated pout as he pinches the other man's cheek. "Gehh, wipe off that pout. You look too cute with it and I need all the manliness I have to sing some rock songs for the opening act tonight. Looking at cute things softens me."

"Hey Lou" Harry smiles innocently, pursing his lips out little. Louis has a feeling about where this conversation is heading. "What?" , "You think I have cute lips?" - Harry said, moving his eyebrows suggestively. 

What lips? What the hell is Harry going on about? Cute lips? Oh. _Oh_. "Sod off! It was a joke! Can't believe you still remember that!" He said during his laughs. "So you _don't_ think I have cute lips?" He pouts again. "Oh god- you're too much" - Louis laughs.

They continued talking. Before they noticed it their time ran out, causing both to rush back to the stage. "Louis! There you are! The show is starting! Where have you been?" - Liam screamed when he saw Louis stumbled in. "Less talkin', more dancin' Payno. Harry is going to play a rock song first so we'll rock the hell out of this place to get the mood going!" He put on a jacket as the light goes out.

"Alright.. You can do this" Louis takes in a deep breath before running out of the stage. "Hello France!! Welcome to the Harry Styles' show!!" - he exclaimed, "Sorry for the late, I was taking a wee, bathroom was miles away." the crowd chuckles. "Enough chit chat, let's rock!"

Rock wasn't exactly Louis' greatest field, what with all the screaming and low notes but that doesn't mean he can't do it either. His rock songs are mostly composed for ones with a higher vocal range and the occasional raspy sounds in his voice makes it sounds better as well, or at least that's what Niall said.

The flashing lights along with the beat of the drums mixed with heavy bass and tiny sounds of violin must have played some role in the energy running through his veins. Screaming on top of his lungs and jumping around, he feels more confident than the other night. Liam's crew continue to perform with their best efforts.

This stage is a bit different than the last, doesn't exactly has a lower or higher part of the stage so Louis ended up standing in front of Liam's dancing crew. "Thank you for listening!!" Louis said breathlessly in the mic "Here is the man of the night! Harry Styles!"

Louis runs inside with Liam's crew, meeting Niall in there. "Good job lads!! Time to drink!!" - he exclaimed. "The Irish blood is going to kill your liver one day Nialler" Liam shakes his head with a smile. "Hey, don't ruin the mood! You're running off with your soulmate anyway! Just let me drink!"

They all scatter, Liam goes away with Zayn, who Louis just now realized follow Harry's tour, Louis stayed behind as per usual. Harry's performance is a lot better than Louis', in his own judgement. But in any case, that _is_ Harry Styles, the famous songwriter, singer, British heart throb, Louis' precious soulmate up there so of _course_ it has to be good.

Somehow Louis finds himself staying among the crowd, screaming with the fans following Harry's song, dancing with the rhythm. "Oh! You're The Tommo!" One girl said as Harry was talking on stage. God he really should ask Niall to help him with the rebrand, 'the Tommo' just sounds a bit cringy now.

"Yeah! Didn't expect anyone to know me really" Louis chuckles and let the girl takes a selfie with him before returning his attention back on stage.

"France really is a great place." - Harry said as the show was wrapping up - "I don't think I could ever" - Harry paused, Louis swears their eyes locked for a moment right before Harry smiles fondly and look away - "Forget this place. Thank you all for coming! You have been great!" 

Harry waves, throwing kisses to the audience before retreating backstage, Louis leaves too at that point. "That was amazing!" Louis launches himself at Harry, who casually returns the hug, giggling into Louis' neck.

"Couldn't have done it without everyone's help" Harry smiles, his arm resting on Louis' hip. "Anyone up for a drink tonight? My treat!" Everyone cheers as they make their way to the car, Harry and Louis still glued together.

"Glad you're here with me. Really" Harry smiles. Louis chuckles, "Me too curly"

_--------------_

Louis opens his eyes to be greeted with a head of curls in his face and a pair of emerald eyes staring back at him. "Morning sunshine" Louis chuckles, letting his hand explores Harry's curls.

"You looks cute when you sleep" Harry plants a kiss on Louis' nose. "Common, time to get ready, we need to get going for the flight" Harry got off of the bed and attempted to pull Louis up.

Key word being attempt. "Lou! Common, we're going to be late." - Harry whines as he put on his own clothes. Why weren't they on? Well what do you think two half drunk soulmates that have been dreaming about each other naked do when they are alone in a room? Well you can be the judge of that.

"I wanna sleep moree" Louis whines. "You can sleep later on the plane, common Lou" Harry chuckles slipping Louis' clothes onto him. Honestly they have been dating since last night and Harry is already spoiling him. "But I wanna sleep next to youu" - he whines. "You can sleep next to me on the plane" Harry chuckles.

One thing led to another and Harry ended up giving him a piggyback ride to the airport after even brushing Louis' teeth for him. Louis was awake enough to catch Liam giving him a weird look and Niall's hysterical laughter. Either way, Harry is spoiling Louis in every way possible and he is loving it.

"Louis! What's the deal with you and Harry? Thought you said you'll remain innocent for H" Liam nudges his side as they were in the waiting area. "I did remain innocent for H! What are you on about?" Liam rolls his eyes fondly. "Whatever man, how did the meeting go? You promised to introduce me remember?"

Oh right, he did make that promise after Liam showed him Zayn. He let out an exaggerated groan before turning to look at Liam. "Yeah, how could I forget? The Tommo never breaks his promise" Louis calls Harry over, much to Liam's confusion, before grabbing showing Liam the back of their hands, where " _Always in my heart_ " still resides though slightly faded.

Liam stared at their hands for a bit, still clearly confused, "Wait.. You guys are soulmates?!" Harry's face exploded into something Louis could only describe as fond after Liam's scream as he snakes his hand around Louis' waist again. "Yup! Now you aren't the only one with a high profile soulmate"

Something hit his head, it was Niall's hand, Harry looks at Niall like he did something so scandalous, Liam is too used to the violence. "You wanker just joking around, going on dates and stuff while I get the bad end of the deal"

What? What bad end of the deal? "What? Why? What happen?". "People saw you two flirting up a storm before the show and started speculating, pointing out this and that and" - Niall waves his hands around - "ohmygod they're totally soulmates with all that writings on their arm". 

Louis tugs down his jacket sleeve's again. Great, now things have gone to shit because both were careless and people are talking about the writings on his arm again. "And they started to" - Niall continues to ramble - "Complained to me because, as your manager, I did a terrible job at damage control. And I didn't even _know_ I needed to 'damage control' two happy lads on a date" Niall releases a long breath, finally calming down.

"You alright man?" Harry patted his back as Niall rubs the temple of his forehead. "Sorry, shouldn't have suggested meeting you at all.. then none of this would have happened." Louis said under his breath mostly to himself before he realized everybody heard him.

"Aw Lou, no, I love meeting you!" Harry whines, pulling him closer, planting kisses on his cheek. "Tommo, no! I wasn't angry at you! I was angry at them being little shits about two guys dating!" Niall said in the same time as Harry before hugging both Harry and him. "Louis no, no, don't think that! Those people are just assholes" Liam joined with Niall, hugging them too.

"Let goo, I can't breath!" Lpuis whines, chuckling in the process before they all slowly release him, Harry's hand is still resting on his hip though. "Alright! I have a plan. They want a damage control but _I_ want justice! Just you wait boys, I'll flip your life around! Sorry in advance Harry." was Niall's last word before walking away, talking to someone on the phone.

"They probably will just get some girls for me to walk around with to appear straight, don't worry, it'll be fine" Harry smiles, rubbing his hip gently. "I kinda feel bad that you gotta do that. Zayn has to do that sometimes to get publicity and even though nothing is there I still feels my blood boils sometimes." - Liam shakes his head sympathetically. 

"Yeah! They make you look like a serial.. dater, I guess. I saw people talking about how you appear like those people that has soulmates but just doesn't want them. It's horrible! You're so not like that!" Louis had always defended Harry because he has a weird feeling Harry is a great person underneath the cover his team gives him and Louis is oh so right.

Harry smiles again, love basically pours out of his eyes. "Anyway, best to say on the low for now. Niall is probably working with Harry's team to come up with a 'damage control' idea." Liam pats Louis' shoulder. "Chin up man, you're doing a pop song today, gotta look happy for it." Louis let out a weak chuckle. "Supposed you're right."

The seats on their plane ride is different than usual. Harry takes his normal seat in front of Liam though Louis now sits beside Harry. Zayn somehow found his way on their plane too. According to Niall he has been on the same ride everytime but sat elsewhere so Louis could sit next to his best mate. What a great lad, lucky Liam.

While on board, Louis makes it his mission to get Harry interested in social media and get himself one. Although he doesn't make any signs to show that he would get one, Louis did catch his interest enough to get him to listen to Louis for an hour. Half of the time he stared at Louis instead of the screen though.

When Harry fell asleep on his shoulder, Louis keeps on scrolling. Harry's fans have a history of being able to hack into everywhere, finding out literally everything and analysising all things so Louis wasn't surprise to hear his official Twitter got hacked and see a bunch of post analysisng whether he's a stunt, a friend, a lover or a soulmate. Compelling arguements so far.

What made uncomfortable though was all the posts on different medias ripping to shreds the writings on his arms and Harry's. Pictures of him were mostly taken by passerby so it doesn't show their conversations that clearly, with Harry's pictures though, that's not the case. 

Harry's pictures were taken by actual professional people with their big and fancy cameras. Some pictures shows clearly his whole arm and the scribbling words. His fandom ripped the pictures into piece, making out lines after lines and eventually the whole conversation. Much to Louis' amusement, they were talking about their family's best moments including the time Harry called Gemma a drug dealer and the time Louis scared the shit out of Lottie's new boyfriend.

What did warm his heart about this breach of privacy was that many people thanking Harry for showing his arm to the camera as it helped them to find their own soulmates as well. Which is cute and all but it was Louis to came up with the idea. He should tease Harry later for this.

There was another picture picture that Harry let his left arm getting photographed, most like his left palm. It's a bit blurry, probably because Harry was waving a bit, but his fans still managed to decode it.

Much to Louis' embarrassment, it was their version of drunk texting. Louis had too many drinks and started writing about how much he loves Harry's handwriting, Harry's personality and Harry's stories. Rambling about how he loves everything about him and how talking to him is Louis' favourite thing to do everyday.

Harry wrote his reply on their wrist, which was covered in the picture so everyone just knows that Harry's soulmate is a sappy piece of shit while missing the fact that Harry, too, is a sappy piece of shit. He still remembers clearly Harry's reply after waking up from a night's sleep: " **L! Are you drunk again? Haha, I hope you get some rest soon. I love you too, I love your relaxed hand writing, I love your teasing, I love your music taste. I love all of you so much that I write songs about you. I want you too, I want to hear your voice, I want to look at your eyes, I want to touch your skin, I want to kiss your cheek. I can't wait till the day when we can meet. Love you xx** "

Louis took a picture of his palm and wrist that day, looking at it from times to times to feel better during hard times. As cute as it was, it is still embarrassing and, as all their writings are, extremely personal. He doesn't like that people are poking fun of it and insulting it and basing Harry's stunt on these to say he is a bad person. Not one bit.

He turns to look at the head of curls resting on his shoulder. If Harry doesn't mind it too much, should Louis? Even though these are messages they share privately, it is still on Harry's body and if the man want to show it off, should he be angry for him? They are soulmate, yes, but it doesn't mean Louis has the permission to feel for Harry or tell him what he is supposed to feel. 

Louis decides to shrug off the anger, if Harry likes to show off their writings proudly then Louis won't be too angry. Besides, he does think it's kind of cute that Harry would purposely show people the writing on their arms just because he want to show off how connected they are.

A small smile makes its way on Louis' face, chuckling, he types out a small " _Having the time of my life @Harry_Styles_ " on Twitter, watching as everyone freaks out. Finally, he turns off his phone and let sleep takes him away.

_--------------_

Louis spat out the water he was sipping. "What the fook to you mean they want us to be public?" - he asked while still choking. Harry pat his back though similarly confused.

"So you don't want to be public?" Niall blinked in confusion "Thought you're always a fan of PDA?". "Wha- I mean I- yeah, I'm all for it but what the hell do you mean _they_ want us to be public? They set him up with girls to make sure no one finds out he has no interest in them! So what's with you coming in here saying they want us to just 'go for it'?" Louis complained and rightfully so if he could say so himself.

"Oh, right, should have explained it properly" Niall laughs at his own forgetfulness. Niall should be happy that Harry's tour is already over and the stress is lifted off Louis' shoulders because if it wasn't, his Irish ass wouldn't be laughing.

"So in the last couple of months I have been discussing a couple of details with Harry's team. The rumours for him being not straight and already have found his soulmate is not only on-going but also well-known and they have been getting their nipples twist about how to solve this so I jumped in and said 'Hey, how about Harry coming out?' Because it won't just make great press and drama, it also can help you get more audience. Sure a part of your fanbase might drop but more will come in. Everything have their own risks." - he explained, Harry nodding along with Louis - "So we let you two get caught flirting, let people ask Harry about Louis and soulmates so test the water"

"And how was the result?". "The result was pretty good considering how people are more convinced that you two are a thing and more companies are willing to spend money on you wankers to work with them and let them spread their stuff towards the non-straight people. It has been great. And after 4 months of telling them 'things are great' and 'we should do this', they rang me up this morning saying" Niall makes his voice higher to imitate the assistant lady " 'Hey Niall, we think your idea is great, the hints have been getting better and better so let's let them go public' and told me to tell you guys to go in a meeting with them about how you want to go about things."

The two of them just sat in awe staring back at the Irish man in front of him as he stares right back at them, expecting something. "Wow Nialler, we appreciate your hard work" - Niall said in a higher pitch to imitate Louis, "Yeah Niall, you are the bestest friend I've ever had, so much better than Zayn" - Niall lowers his voice to imitate Harry while waving his arms around dramatically.

"Oh for god sake Niall" Louis gives him a kick before jumping onto him, screaming on top of his lungs. "Why didn't you fucking tell us sooner you ass?! Oh my god! This is.. This is insane!". Harry soon joins in the hug, yelling "Yayy! Niall you're the best!" with all of his might.

"So when is the meeting?" Louis bit his lower lips to contain his smile. "Just a couple of hours away. I was supposed to tell you sooner but I forgot". A couple of hours? Is he fucking kiddingg? Louis is not calm enough for this! "Sure, we'll be there" Harry said, smiling like the sun.

"Wait I- I don't know if I'm ready to be rational yet!" - Louis panicked. "Tommo, you waited your whole life to be with him, do you want to spend the rest of it hiding?" Niall gives him a serious look. "No, of course not but I.. I don't know if.." Louis let out a huff of breath. Niall's stare burns through him. Their eyes aren't meeting anymore but he could still feel the intense stare Niall is giving him.

He has never came out, it has always been a known fact in his family so it wasn't hard to tell them but he had never actually talked about it to anyone out of the family. Of course he want to be out happy and proud with a soulmate he dears but in the same time he is terrified he might not have it in him to deal with the reaction afterwards.

Harry is a stare since ages ago, the guy had experienced this before and knew how to deal with it. Louis on the other hand, doesn't. He had always been an underground artist and is pretty much unknown to the media. The most experience he have dealt with is the insults towards his appearance, song and writings but something tells him if he comes out, it might even become dangerous for his life, what with all the gay people being shot left and right. It's a legit fear he has.

A gentle hand caressing his back brought him back to the present. Harry is smiling warmly at him, holding him close, nothing but fondness and love radiated from him. Louis must be a saint in his past life to still deserves this man in this life. "It's okay, we can tell me to delay it until you are ready, we don't have to come out now if that's not what you want"

His calming voice combined with the fondness in his smile and the gentle back caressing really helps calming Louis down. What is he doing? Freaking out about coming out? About the future? This is not him. He's Louis Tomlinson, he feels insecure about everything but never let his fears get in the way. He is not just any guy, he is _god damn Louis Tomlinson_ and Louis Tomlinson doesn't back out. 

Just because he hasn't experience the same things Harry had, doesn't mean he had never experience death threats, punches and judgements. He had been through worse times just in different ways so what is he doing here, contemplating about the thing he had always wanted to do?

Sure it is probably not as simple as he is putting it but it doesn't mean he doesn't have it in him to fight through. He has his family, his friends, his soulmate by his side always and his supporters as well. He takes a deep breath and release it before looking back up at Niall. He is determined. He want to do this. For Harry and for himself. Maybe he wants to prove to himself he could do it, maybe he wants to openly walk around with Harry, maybe he wants something else. All he knows right now is that he wants to give this a go.

"No, I'm ready. Let's do this"

Niall smiles proudly at him, giving him an encouraging shoulder pat. Harry was a bit concerned though he must have seen something in his eyes since his concerned look fades away, replaced with a similar determined look. They can do this.

Soon they stood in front of the meeting room. Louis takes in a deep breath, he grips Harry's hand tighter. Harry does the same while bringing their intertwined hands up to peck a kiss on the back of Louis' left hand, where the " _Always in my heart_ " message resides, though barely, before looking at the older male. "You ready?"

Louis smiles back as him, nudging his side for being a sappy boyfriend. Oh yeah, they are boyfriends now. The casual drops of 'I love you's must have played a part in the unspoken status of their relationship. Their eyes found each other in the same time which both couldn't do anything other than smiles brightly when they realized. "Yeah" - Louis replied simply, returning back to the door. "Let's go".


	2. Epilogue

_--------------_

**Harry Styles talks Soulmates and Louis Tomlinson**  
_BBC Radio 1 ✓ 1.6M views • 2 days ago_  


_Harry Styles joined Nick Grimshaw to talk about his recent coming out and Louis Tomlinson._

BBC Radio 1 opening starts.

"Good morning everybody, Friday morning, 12th October, just gone 7am and our guest is here" - Nick said as he fixes the position of his mice slightly. - "Good morning, Harry Styles."

"Good morning" - Harry smiles slowly, shifting around in his seat. Niall had informed him today he will be talking about Louis and make things official. It's a bit nerve wracking but he's glad he is doing it first on Nick's show. He is a close friend after all.

"How are ya?" - Nick asked, giving him an encouraging smile that stays mostly hidden from the camera. 

"I'm not- I'm not too bad actually" - he smiles back. "You're being weird today" - Nick teases, smiling brightly. "Am I?" , "Lil bit" - Nick smiles more, knowing too well how exactly they both are for today's topic.

"Not bad weird. I don't know if it's just just a little bit early weird or everyone is gonna hear about the exciting news weird. Big day!" - Nick smiles, easing into the topic.

"I think early weird" Harry replies, going with the joke. "Yeah?".

They continue with their talk and a little bit of a banter before going into the topic. Nick makes a look, as the camera is on Harry, as if asking _"Ready?"_ in which Harry smiles as an answer.

Niall, is in the room as well but stands behind the camera man, gives them a thumb up as a reply to Nick. Louis is not there though, busy setting up a show with Liam.

"So Harry! Everyone has been talking about this nonstop and everyone is going to ask you about it too so I'll do you a favour and do this first. Let's talk Louis Tomlinson" - Nick's smile somehow grows even wider, if that's still possible.

Nick knew about Louis from the songs people suggested to be put on a while before but doesn't know him personally until recently. As expected, they both got along like a house on fire, constantly teasing each other and going back and forth on Twitter at times.

Harry smiles automatically, a sea of fondness basically oozing out of his eyes. "Let's" Harry said simply, chuckling slowly as he does so.

"So recently, to ones who weren't aware, you finally post something, on your own, on Twitter that said 'Yours always @louis_tomlinson' while Louis posted a instagram of you both with the caption 'Always in my heart @harrystyles', even changing his icon to both of you, and everybody has been going crazy about it." Harry chuckles as Nick waves his hands around to get his point across. "Speculations about you two have been getting stronger everyday so, Harry, what's the real deal here? What was going on?" Nick smiles, his face probably gives away the fact that he knows something is up.

Harry chuckles more, still looking straight at Nick. "Just the regular" Harry chuckles even more as Nick makes a face. "What? It's normal. It's normal for soulmates to take pictures together" - he said, trying to sound casual smile his insides are flip flopping everywhere.

"Oooooh! There it is! The news is out! Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson everyone! Wooo!" Harry laughs as Nick exclaimed, clapping everyone else in the room. Niall, too, claps and whistles before letting out a small 'Wooh!' in the background.

"So let's start with the burning question: everyone said that you and your soulmate talks through the little writings on your arm so what's up with all the ladies you've been seen around with?"

"They are all just friends of mine. We just, er, go out for drinks and food." Harry shrugs. "I got bored of saying we're not dating and no one believes me anyway so I just stopped saying anything" he smiles.

In their meeting, they had came to the agreement that they can discuss the soulmate however they want but can not claim the other girls as beards or bad mouthing the team.

Nick nods, giving him a knowing smile. "How long have you known it was Louis?"

Harry smiles again, "During my tour if I'm being honest" , "Really?" , "Yeah. I never told him my name, he called me H and I called him L for, like" he shrugs "4 years straight."

"You kidding?" Nick laughs as Harry continues with his 'No, I'm not!'. "You never got a phone as well, Louis must be pissed, he's quite talkative". Harry laughs, "He kept telling me but I never got a chance to get one. Had one once then it broke before we could call. He was mad at me for a couple of hours, wouldn't even reply to me." Nick laughs more.

"So you guys have been in contact for 4 years now?" Harry nods, smiling proudly. "So what about the songs? Maybe people think your songs are about him. Thoughts?"

Harry smiles, although he talks slow as usual, he doesn't stutter as much, mostly because there is no reason to. "I have to say a lot is about him, I do have some about my mum and family and all that but yeah, yeah, a lot of it is about him" - he smiles.

"And some of his is about you too?" Nick moves his eyebrows suggestively, making Harry chuckles again. "Um.. I don't know. I never asked. I mean I want it to and he did say some are but" Harry chuckles.

"Well let's ask him then" Nick grins as Harry's blinks in confusion. "What?" Wait, no one told him about this.

"We're now connecting to Louis Tomlinson, formerly known as The Tommo" Nick announced, Harry sits still on his seat, still very confused until he heard a click sound, Louis' voice fills the room. "Hello" Louis greets softly, a smiles automatically spreads on Harry's face. "Hellooo" he said back before Nick could.

"Hello mate! You're live on the BBC Radio 1 with Grimmy and Harry!"

"Wait what? A fucking warning would have been good wouldn't it?" Harry laughs as Nick just chuckle.

"Is it a bad time mate? Whatcha up to?"

"Wrapping up this practice with Liam but since I'm live, Liam could probably make an exception" Louis chuckles, Harry's cheeks are hurting from smiling so much but it's not like he could stop smiling.

"We'll wrap it up fast mate, no worries. So we were talking about songs"

"Alright alright"

"Harry here admit that he wrote some about you and a little birdie told me that you wrote some about him too, is that true Louis? No need to lie now, we all know what's up"

Louis let out his iconic "Hahaha" laugh and Harry finds himself biting his lower lips to stop himself from smiling so much. "Um.. Yeah, your little birdie is not wrong. Not telling you what song though" Nick laughs along with Harry.

"C'mon, c'mon, just a little hint?", "Nope. Not telling." Harry rests his head on his hand, just admiring Louis' voice, as you do, without interrupting Louis and Nick's banter.

"Alright well that was all we needed originally but seems like you have time on your hands, how about you tell us your side of the story on the soulmate situation?"

"Um.. It's not much to say really. Oh! Actually, one thing, one thing I wanna say. People think I'm the sappy one, or the only sappy one and I- and I disagree greatly on that notion" Harry laughs, covering his face in embarrassment "People analyzed this one picture of Harry to make out our conversation and I was drunk off my ass when I gave him a heartfelt paragraph and he was proudly showing it off _without_ showing his equally disgusting sappy reply" Nick joins in the laughter.

"Alright, thank you for your time mate" , "Anytime, anytime" , "Thanks for answering the phone, Harry wouldn't have done it" , "Heeey" Louis laughs, "Probably not, yeah. Get a phone Hazz!" , "I will!" Nick laughs again.

"Alright, goodbye mate" , "Goodbyee" , "Bye Louu" , "Goodbye to you too love" the call ends.

"Aw, wasn't that cute?" , "You could have warned me beforehand! I was caught off guard, didn't even have anything to say" Harry chuckles. If only Nick told him, he would have had something to look forward to during this.

"It's not like it went bad" Nick chuckles, the video footage cuts at that point.

_--------------_

As they wraps up the one hour show, Harry stands up from the chair, stretching. He thought it would have been longer but not exactly, time flies pretty fast. At one point Louis wrote to him " **Listening to you on the radio xx** " which caused him to smile so bright that Nick made fun of him for it for 10 minutes straight.

"Harry! Good job today mate!" - Nick called, wrapping his arm around Harry's neck, giving him some pats. "So proud of you. You did great" he smiles warmly, patting Harry's back some more times before walking away.

Nick came out to Harry awhile before and encourage him to do the same so it would be easier for him and his soulmate. Harry had wanted to do that for a long time but never got the courage or the real push to do so.

Sure he does love 'L' but at the time he was someone Harry never met. Sure he got butterflies in his stomach whenever L wrote something new. Sure he had always felt the urge to just search the world for this L ever since he knew about his existence. But for a long time 'L' had remained a secret love, a source to keep going, not a source to derail from old paths.

That was until he actually met L, met Louis. Met him and his vibrant blue eyes, met him and his slightly high pitch voice, met him and his cute smile, met him and his small body, met him and all of his glory. That was his last straw, that was all Harry needed to pull the last string, that was all he needed to want the option to come out.

The urge grows more and more throughout the 4 months they spent together on tour and more through the hinting stage until the official coming out. Louis does weird things to his heart, making him feel strong pulls towards him even before he found out Louis is his soulmate. 

Maybe that's just what soulmates do to other soulmates, they yearn for one another, they pull one another closer by default, they just naturally gets it on with one another, they have always meant to belong to one another.

"Welcome home love, look what I made!" - Louis said cheerfully, almost skipping towards the door to greet Harry.

The fascination and the pull towards a person grows stronger, the more it grows, the more they want to find out about one another. Slowly, it leads to genuine affection, then to love.

Harry takes small sniffs at the air, breathing in the smell of cooked chicken, some cheese, ham and mashed potato. "Lou! You cook a meal?! I'm so proud of you!" He squeezes Louis in his hug.

And slowly love grows stronger. Sometimes it makes you blind, ignoring all the red flags and dangers ahead along with the damage around just to be with them. Sometimes it makes you strong, assisting you through the storm of life. Sometimes it breaks you down, abandoning you at the time you needed most. Sometimes it kills you, sometimes it saves you. Love is one too many things, way too complicated to actually decipher.

"How is it?" Louis waits patiently as Harry taste his food, gulping loudly, shifting nervously.

In a way, love at first sight doesn't exist. You can be drawn into someone you first met but that's not love. Love is not simply just a feeling, love is a process. Love requires time and effort from both sides, love requires responsibility from both sides, love requires so much more. Yet sometimes love requires nothing, sometimes it just requires two people that did everything to be with one another.

"It's really good! Lou it's so good! I'm so proud of youu!" Harry jumps excitedly, finally Louis could cook a meal. Louis, too, jumps happily, pulling both into a hug.

Love don't come naturally for soulmates, some soulmates never end up together, some soulmates never find one another yet they still love, they still stay happy with others. Harry and Louis might have never met in the span of 4 years they talked to each other but they did so much more than knowing how pretty the other person is or how money they make a year. Their love might be blind but it's not weak, their love is build on trust, on affection, on connection, on personalities. They didn't know the other person's physical self in 4 years but they know everything about the other's mental self, the man inside the shell.

"Love you" Louis said softly, hugging Harry closer, a happy wide smile on his face. 

Harry doesn't know what he is doing or where he is going. The reaction to his coming out was mixed at best with people cheering him on and people booing him down. What he does know is that he won't back down. He has his soulmate physically by him now, something he had endlessly wished for since forever, and he will give everything he has to keep this. Maybe this is what love does to Harry, it gives him other reasons to keep going other than money, other than to satisfy someone else. Maybe his love pushes him to do things for him for once.

"Love you too, so much" Harry replied, nuzzling his face in Louis' neck.

• end •

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know the creators to the manip. Do inform me if you do.


End file.
